The arrested gang posted videos of schoolchildren being assaulted on the Facebook website.

Sharjah police arrest members of Facebook gang

By Mariam M. Al Serkal, Staff Reporter

Sharjah: Police have arrested five members of a gang for beating up schoolchildren, filming the assaults and threatening to post the videos on social networking site Facebook unless ransom money is paid.

A senior official at the Preventive Security Section at Sharjah Police said the Asian gang called themselves "Death Room," and some went by the alias of Mario, Doori, Lee and Jenjel Bob.

The gang, which comprised of three people of no known nationality and two Asians, targeted children from affluent families.

"The gang would loiter around high cost schools and then pounce on their victim. They would then kick and beat them while at the same time recording the events with a home video recorder," said the official. The victims known to the police are aged 12 to 15 from Asian backgrounds, while the gang members are between the ages of 20 to 25.

After the children were beaten and recorded, the gang would then demand money - ranging between Dh500 to Dh1,000 - to be paid every week. If the victims failed to pay up, the gang threatened to post the videos on the internet site Facebook, and then kill them and their parents.

The gang would contact the children on their mobile phone and explain the details of the location where they should receive the blackmail money.

Upon arrival, the children would once again be abused and recorded on video.

Several of the videos were uploaded onto Facebook, which showed compromising and intimidating, acts such as cigarettes being extinguished on the victims' arms. According to police, the victims' parents were aware of the abuse but were too afraid to contact the police for fear of their lives.

Some parents regularly paid the money, while others resorted to hiring security for their children. Police said that one couple was so scared for their child's safety that they decided to send their child back to their home country. "This appears to have been a long term crime. The silence of the parents enabled the gang to get more victims over a long period of time and receiving vast quantities of money," said the police official.

As of yet, police have evidence for five cases but they believe that there are many more.

Contact: Helpline

Sharjah Police are urging victims to come forward if they have been targeted by the gang. Police have set up a designated hotline number for this case: 06 5487000

Advice: Support for victims

Victims of the Facebook plot, including the family, require love and support from each other and society, as well as psychological intervention to prevent long-term psychological problems, said an expert in the field.

Raymond Hamden, clinical and forensic psychologist at the Human Relations Institute, told Gulf News the whole family would be affected, especially the children/teenagers who are vulnerable to shame and fear arising from the attacks. "They are at the age where they are too young to be adults and too old to be children. It's a horrific act by psychopathic people and they may be scarred," he said.

He said psychological intervention, or Critical Stress Debriefing, is needed as soon as possible to prevent the victims from developing chronic disorders, such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

PTSD is an anxiety disorder, in which victims can develop flashbacks about the traumatic event, withdrawal from people, nightmares, problems with sleep and memory, and impaired functioning.

About 30 per cent of teenagers exposed to community violence develop the disorder, according to a 2007 study conducted by a team of scientists in India.

HRW said German Muslim women were forced to choose between their employment and religious beliefs.

CAIRO — Laws banning teachers from wearing hijab in Germany discriminate against Muslim women who feel being targeted by laws that violate the very essence of their rights, a leading international human rights group said on Thursday, February 26.

"They discriminate on the grounds of both gender and religion and violate these women's human rights."

The HRW's report, "Discrimination in the Name of Neutrality: Headscarf Bans for Teachers and Civil Servants in Germany", is based on extensive research over an eight-month period.

Hijab, an obligatory code of dress that every Muslim woman must wear, has been the subject of heated political debate in Germany, home to 3.5 million Muslims.

Several German states have banned hijab for school teachers.

The HRW said that when approached to comment, state officials justified the restrictions on the basis that teachers have a duty to ensure that schools remain neutral on questions of religion and ideology.

"…the bans are based on the notion that merely wearing the headscarf places neutrality at risk," it noted.

"But there is no evidence that the teachers' conduct violated that duty."

Targeted

The HRW said the state bans are effectively targeting Muslim women.

"None of the laws explicitly target the headscarf, but parliamentary debates and official explanatory documents prior to their introduction make clear that the headscarf is the focus."

Some of the laws allow some exemptions for Christian and "Western" cultural traditions, according to the report.

Chahrokh, the HRW researcher, said their study showed that such laws clearly haunt Muslims in particular.

"In practice, the only people affected by them are Muslim women who wear the headscarf."

The HRW analyzed human rights implications of such bans and their effect on the lives of Muslim teachers, including those who have been employed for years.

"The regulations are not abstract concerns. The restrictions have a profound effect on women's lives," said the New York-based group.

Muslim trainee teachers cannot find employment as public school teachers after successful completion of their education unless they remove their headscarves.

If a teacher refuses to remove her headscarf and subsequently is unsuccessful in court proceedings, she runs the risk of losing her civil servant status and of being removed from her teaching position.

"The measures effectively force women to choose between their employment and the manifestation of their religious beliefs, violating their right to freedom of religion and equal treatment," said the HRW.

It noted that the bans have caused some women to give up their careers or to leave Germany, where they have lived all their lives.

"People should be judged on the basis of their conduct, not views imputed to them by virtue of a religious symbol they wear."Source

Birth control is the complete opposite of proliferation, which in principle is approved and recommended in Islam.

Allah (swt) has requested Muslims to increase the birthrate, not control it, i.e not to decrease the birthrate nor restrict it.

The request has been linked with praise for those who seek a large family. Therefore, proliferation is recommended rather than undesirable, which means that it is a recommended (mandub) action and not just permitted (mubah).

However, proliferation is not obligatory. It is recommended (mandub action), meaning that it carries a reward; however, if it is not performed, it would not entail a punishment neither in temporal life, nor in the Day of Judgement by Allah (swt).

Therefore, not performing the recommended (mandub) action, which in this case seeking a large family, is not necessarily undesirable (makruh) nor is it forbidden (haram).

Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) said:

"Do marry the devoted and prolific women, for I will be proud of you before other nations in the Day of Judgement."[Abu Dawood and al-Tirmidhi]

Also Al-Tabarani extracted in his book entitled Al-Mu�jam al-Kabeer that the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) saw) said:

"Get married and have large families."

Islam has encouraged and exhorted proliferation, and made the preserving of progeny one of the high ideals; Islam has decreed a set of rules designed to maintain the progeny, such as marriage, and also to protect it as reflected in Allah (swt) saying,

(Kill not your children for fear of want, We shall provide sustenance for them as well as for you.)[Qur�an 17:31]

And He (swt) also says,

(And from them twain he scattered countless men and women.)[Qur�an 4:1]

In Islam, it isn�t permitted to halt birth due to economic or financial reasons, Allah (swt) says:

(There is no moving creature on earth but its sustenance depends on Allah.)[Qur�an 11:6]

(Do not kill your children for fear of poverty for it is we who shall provide sustenance for you as well as for them.)[Qur�an 6: 2]

Contraception is only permitted under the following conditions; Mutual agreement between the husband and wife, if it does not cause harm, if it is not practiced on a permanent basis, but rather for a temporary period (such as two years until the breastfeeding of the current baby is completed, for example).

In Islam as in all the religions, fertility is highly prized and children are a gift of God to bring;

(Joy to our eyes.)[Qur�an 25:74]

Family planning (or contraception) is an individual action undertaken by the husband or the wife or both in order to temporarily stop having children, either for health reasons or to protect the woman�s health.

The principle of preventing conception was accepted in those sayings of the Prophet (pbuh) which allowed some of his followers to practice coitus interruptus (Azl). These sayings embodied the earliest legal reasoning of Muslims on contraception and were essential instruments of argument in later Islamic thought on contraception.

Bukhari and Muslim extracted on the authority of Sa�id al-Khudri who reported, "We were out with the Messenger of Allah (saw) and we desired our women as we have been complaining from celibacy, our women wanted us to perform the �azl, so we asked Allah�s Messenger (pbuh) about this and he said,

�There is no harm in doing this for Allah (swt) will create what he wishes till the Day of Judgment�.

According to 'Umar Ibn Khattab�, the Prophet (pbuh) forbade the practice of contraception (azl) with a free woman except with her permission."

These Shari�ah texts explicitly indicate that the �azl, in other words temporary contraception, is permitted (mubah). This is so because the permissibility of �azl has been mentioned in connection with unwanted pregnancies.

However, the belief must always be unshakable that if we used any means of contraception, Allah (swt) will always create whatever he wished till the Day of Judgement.

The concept of sterilization, by permanently halting birth with the help of medicines or surgery is forbidden under Shari�ah rules. But it is permitted under certain conditions for medical reasons, for example if the husband or wife suffers from a contagious or hereditary disease, then permanent sterility might be needed.

Islam also considers abortion a murder crime, and therefore it is prohibited, but it could be permitted for medical urgency, if the mother or the baby has health problems.

Allah (swt) says:

(Losers are those who killed their children foolishly, due to their lack of knowledge, and prohibited what God has provided for them, and followed innovations attributed to God. They have gone astray, they are not guided.)[Qur�an 6:140]

It is considered disbelief to give your self the supremacy and the authority to the human over all life�s affairs, i.e Take someone�s life, as if Allah, the Creator, has no say in the matter,

Allah (swt) says:

(You shall not kill any soul (Nafs) - for GOD has made life sacred - except in the course of justice��.")[Qur�an 17:33]

(No by your Lord, they would not become believers until they make you judge in all disputes between them.)[Qur�an 4:65]

Permanent contraception is forbidden in Islam, for it is considered a kind of castration, and the Messenger of Allah (saw) has forbidden castration.

Al-Tabarani extracted that a desert Arab came to the Messenger of Allah (saw) and asked him about castration, and the Messenger of Allah (saw) prohibited him from this.

A LAST-minute conversion to Islam did not help Australian man Philip Robert Grandfield avoid a lengthy prison sentence after a Bali court found him guilty of sex crimes against underage boys yesterday.

Grandfield, who had lived on the tourist island for more than a decade, received an eight-year sentence for pedophilia activities. A judge dismissed his pleas that that he had been the victim of a blackmail attempt by male prostitutes.

He had been living in a villa in Singaraja and was regularly visited by 12 young boys, whom he said he paid for sex. Five were under 18 and told police they had sexual intercourse with the retired accountant.

Grandfield was arrested in August and recently went on a hunger strike, delaying the court from the delivering its verdict.

But, according to his lawyer, Ketut Suartana, Grandfield gave up his hunger strike after being persuaded by his personal chef, Wawan Sumarwan, that he should convert to Islam. "He stopped the hunger strike by reciting Syahadat (sentences from the Koran accepting Allah as God)," said Mr Suartana. "He has a new name now, Muhamad Farouk Grandfield."

While Bali is predominantly Hindu, Grandfield is the second Australian to convert to Islam as they faced its justice system.

Fashion model Michelle Leslie, who was arrested in Bali in possession of two ecstasy tablets, also claimed to have become a Muslim as she awaited her day in court.

Grandfield's sentence was less than the 12 years prosecutors asked for.Source

There was a Muslim Ottoman heritage as well as common religious affiliation that Kosova shares with the wider Muslim world, (Reuters photos)

On Tuesday, February 17, 2009, Kosova was celebrating its first anniversary as an independent state.

One year ago, this small Balkan state, which was a de facto UN protectorate since 1999, was completing a long quest for freedom and independence in face of a vehement and fierce opposition from Serbia.

The basis of Kosova's declaration of Independence was a proposal put forward in early 2007 after almost three years of extensive negotiations by a UN envoy, former president of Finland Martti Ahtisaari, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in Dec. 2008.

Ahtisaari proposed independence for Kosova supervised by the European Union. This was supposed to be the final puzzle to be put in place in the Balkans, a region whose name became notorious due to the kind of atrocities committed in Croatia, Bosnia, and finally in Kosova.

What Is Needed

While extensive diplomatic efforts from Serbia and its allies have had an effect, Kosova is still waiting for full political recognition from the world and full integration into international community's institutions.

But, although all relevant actors agree that independence is irreversible, it still remains incomplete, because Serbia refused the UN-mediated compromise, even after additional UN mandated efforts to find common ground with Belgrade, led by the European Union- the United States-Russia troika.

Nevertheless, Kosova accepted it and declared its independence from Serbia.

With its 2.2 million people, of which absolute majority are Albanians, Kosova’s first year as a state was surprisingly peaceful, considering the widely believed predictions that once independence is attained, ethnic conflict will be renewed.

It was widely predicted that streams of minority Serbs will be leaving the country under the threat of violence and that Kosova will destabilize the whole region.

None of these gloomy predictions happened. Quite the contrary, while Kosova actually helped the region become more stable, it was Serbia and extremist Serbs in Kosova that proved themselves— again— to be the real troublemakers.

All year long they tried to provoke a conflict and block the new state from breathing normally.

Backed by its strong and big brother in faith Russia, Serbia has continuously blocked Kosova’s progress and integration in the international community.

Belgrade’s agents in Kosova were sabotaging the newborn state, using even violence, most notably in the Serb-controlled areas north of the country, where the ethnically divided town of Mitrovica still serves as a reminder that there are still some things that are incomplete.

With the Serbian hard-line position still remains potently unchanged, Kosova has to face other challenges as well; State-building is a difficult task under any circumstances, and a new state, especially an economically weak one, needs assistance and help even under the best of circumstances.

Together with Moscow, Belgrade was continuously successful in preventing the Kosova's independence to be endorsed by the UN Security Council.

While extensive diplomatic efforts from Serbia and its allies have had an effect, Kosova is still waiting for full political recognition from the world and full integration into international community's institutions.

So far, 55 countries have recognized independent Kosova, including the United States of America and 22 out of 27 European Union members.

Kosova and the Muslim World

Muslim countries shall think the opportunity of having a country like Kosova, a state with majority European Muslims.

By far, the biggest surprise and disappointment for the people of Kosova was that only nine OIC countries have recognized Kosova as a state, of which only one is an Arab League member (Afghanistan, Albania, Turkey, Senegal, Burkina-Faso, Sierra Leone, the United Arab Emirates, Malaysia, and Maldives).

One year after declaring independence from Serbia, instead of wondering why the Muslim world mostly failed to recognize independent Kosova, we should have been talking weather the OIC would accept Kosova as its member.

For a long time, Kosova was misunderstood in Europe, Middle East, Asia, and Africa.

Because Albanian majority itself is mostly Muslim, most Western countries have extreme prejudices regarding the issue of Kosova and its people, culture, and society.

Throughout their history, Albanians have suffered due to this distorted image that others in Europe have had about them.

As one of the poorest regions in the Ottoman Empire, as well as later on in Yugoslavia, for most Europeans Albanians were considered to be alien and backward.

There was a Muslim Ottoman heritage as well as common religious affiliation that Kosova shares with the wider Muslim world. However, the relationship with the Muslim world has never been materialized fully and properly, except in very rare cases like with Turkey or Malaysia.

Furthermore, many Arab and Muslim governments have built for themselves distortedly wrong and one-sided image of the issue based solely on US supportive policy towards Albanians and Kosova.

Muslim countries shall think the opportunity of having a country like Kosova, a state with majority European Muslims; A living proof that one can belong to both worlds and does not have to choose between the two.

Of course, the blame is rarely on one side alone.

All this time, especially after independence has been declared, Kosova's Albanian leaders— reflecting the opposite of the popular feeling— have openly distanced themselves from the Muslim world.

Maybe, it is attributed to their apparent complex and fear that they would be seen as not enough "Western" and "European", and their obvious lack of knowledge about diplomacy and global affairs.

And all this time, Serbia, an Orthodox Christian nation, tried hard to portray a picture that would benefit it, even by shamelessly manipulating with past and present.

When speaking to the West, Belgrade would say that in Kosova it is fighting against "Muslim terrorism" and "Islamic fundamentalism"; when speaking to Arab and Muslim world, Serbia was asking for help to resist American imperialism, calling itself a true successor of Tito’s Yugoslavia that was one of the pillars of the Non-Aligned Movement.

None of this was true, but it was only the West that realized it— first in Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1995 and then in Kosova in 1999, when NATO waged a war against Serbia to put an end to the ethnic cleansing campaign that Belgrade orchestrated against the Kosova's Albanians.

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (CNN) -- Tuba Sahaab looks nothing like a warrior. She is a slight girl of 11, living in a simple home in a suburb of Islamabad. But in Tuba's case, looks are deceiving.

Tuba's parents say they are not afraid even as she speaks out so publicly against the Taliban.

With her pen, Tuba is taking on the swords of the Taliban. She crafts poems telling of the pain and suffering of children just like her; girls banned from school, their books burned, as the hard-core Islamic militants spread their reign of terror across parts of Pakistan.

A stanza of one of her poems reads: "Tiny drops of tears, their faces like angels, Washed with blood, they sleep forever with anger."

Tuba is not afraid to express her views. Of the Taliban forcing young girls out of the classroom, she says: "This is very shocking to hear that girls can't go to school, they are taking us back to the Stone Age."

Less than two hours from Tuba's home, the Taliban have control. The one-time holiday destination of the Swat Valley is now a no-go zone. Curfews are in place at all times. Militants kill with impunity.

Human rights activists and people on the ground in Swat Valley speak of a place called "slaughter square" where the Taliban leave the bodies of their victims with notes saying "do not remove for 24 hours." No one touches the corpses out of fear of reprisals.

Tuba Sahaab refuses to be silent. As young as she is, she is wise and brave beyond her years. The young school girl is reaching a bigger audience, regularly appearing in the media.

On the day we spend with her, Tuba and her mother appear on a talk radio program. Back home, she tells me how she would give her life for her country.

She prayed for his elections, she says. She sees in him the hope of peace in her own country. Tuba Sahaab has a dream to meet her hero. She can hardly contain her excitement.

"I want to go the White Palace and show him my poems, show him what is happening and ask him to come to Pakistan and control it because he is a super power."

Meeting and listening to Tuba Sahaab, it is easy to forget she is still a young girl.

In her playground at school, Tuba dances and laughs with her friends. She loves writing her short stories (she has already published one book) and shows me a cartoon character she has created called "Tomato Man."

Tuba's parents are proud of their daughter. They say they are not afraid even as she speaks out so publicly against the Taliban.

Tuba is their only child but as her mother tells me, she is "worth more than seven sons and seven daughters."

And Tuba has the dreams of any young child. She tells me she wants to be an astronaut and then one day lead her country.

"I will do anything, if my life goes I don't worry, I just want to do something." "I think you will get the chance," I say. Source

HAYAA’ (modesty and a sense of shame) is a noble characteristic and a sign of those of high standards and eemaan. The best of what has been said of it is that, ‘It is a fine sensitivity and feeling that is evident in the eye and that affects the countenance. Whoever has been forbidden from it has been forbidden from all good and whoever has been permitted it has obtained honour and nobility and been bestowed with complete good.’ [Mawaarid Ath-Thamaan Li-Duroos Az-Zamaan – Abdul-Azeez As-Salamaan] How could it be otherwise when the best of the creation of Allah, sallallaahu ‘alaihi wa sallam, stated: Al-Hayaa’ khairun kulluh (Hayaa’ is all good) [Muslim]?

This is the hayaa’ that has become feeble and withdrawn. Indeed, destructive concepts and designs aimed at us from the enemies of Allah and (enemies of) the Muslim woman, eat away at its body until it has deteriorated and weakened to the point that the caller [to hayaa’] has little effect upon many Muslim women when they are called to it.

If we look at the profound state of affairs in which the Muslim woman lives and her digression behind Western trends and continuous following them until if they enter the lizard’s hole she will enter along with them, we see a strong testimony of the weakness of deen and hayaa’ in such a Muslim woman. This is why I have strived, while asking the Most High and Able Protector for assistance and sincerity, to write a few words aimed at my Muslim sisters which I hope will affect and reverberate upon their souls.

My beloved sister, the words I write are from a heart bleeding in sorrow and split with agony at the sorry condition of so many Muslim women today. We see the Muslim woman who dresses in clothing that is covering yet revealing ‘nakedness’, who comes out to display her charms and seduces the slaves of Allah with the filthiest of weapons – the weapon of enticement and allurement that she has learned of the ways and means of seduction. For you find this seduction in the home and in the street and in speech and movement.

Seduction in clothing and beautification, in walking and sitting and in the glance. It is really a serious matter that is disgraceful and that dismembers the heart with grief when we live in a reality where so many Muslim women are divested of hayaa’. The deen and the Qur’an are forgotten and practices and morals are disavowed...and there is no ability or power except from Allah!

Dear sister, this address is from my humble and insufficient pen and the lines are my wounded inner being and it is naught but a cry from one warning and cautioning you. They are but words which I can only hope find your ears and by which the door of your heart may be reached and they find space, an entrance and acceptance and then application.

Words that emanate from a heart that are love, friendship and sincere advice to you; advice of a sister who is concerned about her sister who she sees is heading down the road of misguidance upon which she is practically swept away. She is being deviated and is falling into the trap and snare that was prepared for her by the Zionist and she is unaware. How can I not take hold of her hand and advise her and direct her or try to open her eyes to the plots and designs around her?!!

My deserving sister, my words are not new, yet they are a reminder for you so that perhaps Allah will cause you to benefit by them and make them flow over your heart with coolness and tranquillity. Would that they have a great influence upon you, inshaa Allah. I appeal to you my beloved sister, to your sense of religion, your pure nature which Allah has created you upon, and your sense of modesty (hayaa’), and your fear of Allah the Most High and Able. Do you not listen at all to the call of your sincere sister who is concerned about you?

Know my dear sister, that you and I and every Muslim woman are standing on a port among the harbours of Islam. Namely, the Muslim family and the education of the children in the manner loved and accepted by Allah. Its pillar and foundation is obedience to Allah and following His Messenger (sallallaahu ‘alaihi wa sallam) and searching for what pleases Allah to acquire the priceless commodity that all of us hope for – Al-Jannah.

It is for this, my dear sister, that when the scheming enemies of Islam saw the place of the Muslim woman and the powerful influence she had amongst those with whom she lives, as the teacher and developer of the coming generation and due to her would their upbringing be either solid or corrupted. They turned their focus on us, we Muslim women, to destroy our morals and take away our deen and hayaa’ upon which we were naturally disposed to and by which we were commanded - until we would in turn corrupt the morals of our sons, the men of the future and the pillars of the Ummah. These morals which support the Ummah in its progress and understanding and (men) upon whom its honour depends after Allah. If this pillar is made defective or is destroyed and this strong nature of the Ummah is weakened then what will become of its future? This is exactly what the enemies of Allah want.

Have You Not Understood?Do you know how they [ie. the enemies of Islam] are able to infiltrate and influence us through means that are enticing and outwardly innocent but internally filthy? It is through the method of giving honey-covered poison presented through advertising and glittering and captivating addresses. It is their saying terms like “Move with the times”... “civilization,” and “modernisation”. It is done through lowly magazines, seductive fashions, and saucy stories and tales. It is done through TV series’ and films and songs and other means. Will you look to Allah my sister? Will you not return to your Rabb and throw the plots of your enemies back on their throats and reject their concepts and misleading titles? Will you say with the strength and honour of a Muslim “I do not accept other than the order of Allah and the order of His Prophet!”?

My dear sister: What your enemy wants of you is indeed precious and costly. It is no simple matter for you. They want to ruin your deen, your moral character, your virtue and your hayaa’ in which you derive pride and honour. They want for you to be the despicable, reprehensible, and neglected of the society, as is the condition of their womenfolk. They call for the throwing off of the hijaab and to nudity and exposing yourself and they say to you:

Tear to pieces your covering O daughter of IslamTear it up and burn it without hesitationFor truly it is a sham protector!They weave conspiracy after conspiracy and devise plots and take up ambush positions all around us. They initiate dirty activities under the name of “liberation movement”, and “equality”, and the impetus for all of that is the destruction of your moral character and mine, as well as the moral character of all other Muslim women by all means and weapons they can use to turn you away from this true deen. This will occur if we answer their cunning calls and filthy invitations. Let us confront them and stand as one like a towering mountain before this destructive Western whirlwind current in aid of this true deen and the preservation of Islam, morality and al-hayaa’. Let us be a strong hand cuffing with its grip, protection, decency and morality the face of all who would violate its parts or who attempts to approach it and harm it. You and I and every Muslim woman say to the enemies of Allah what ‘Aisha At-Taymuriyyah said:

With a hand of decency I defend the honour of my hijaabAnd by my modesty I have risen above my contemporariesAnd by brilliant and gifted thoughtAnd critical disposition have my good manners been perfectedNothing has harmed me of my culture and good learningExcept that I am best of those wiseNothing has prevented us from risingExcept letting down the head cover from our locks and the covering of our facesMy beloved sister, what really cuts into my soul and deprives me of rest is to see a young Muslimah who believes in Allah as her Rabb, Islam as her deen and in Muhammad (sallallaahu ‘alaihi wa sallam) as a messenger and prophet, roaming the streets, roads, shopping centres, and other public places – where one finds the good and the evil, the virtuous and the wicked, those of pure heart and those whose hearts are diseased who follow their sexual weakness and pursue young females.These young women go out beautified or wearing hijaab of the type that is itself such an adornment that by its appearance and style shoots like an arrow of attraction in the lustful heart of such a man. He will be tempted and his heart captured by her. By Allah, will Allah be pleased with the act of this young woman while He is the one who says to her and those like her among women: Do not make a display like the display of those previous to Islam (in ignorance). [Al-Ahzaab 33] or will He be pleased with her deen, her modesty, her character upon which she was bred and taught?!

Dear sister, don’t you realise that among the signs of weak eemaan in a Muslim woman and the beginning of her defeat is the deprival of her honour and virtue. When she forsakes or lowers her deen and her morals this occurs. Al-Hayaa’ is considered part of her nature. There is for the woman an Arabic proverb for al-hayaa’ in life that goes: The highest modesty is that of the virgin in her quarters. The disappearance of al-hayaa’ in woman is a shortcoming in her eemaan and a departure from her nature. Have you then become accustomed to that!By Allah there is no good in life nor in the world when hayaa’ has vanished.Source

Here we feature sins and their harmful effects. Some special mention is needed regarding young Muslims, especially those in their teenage years. It is often taken for granted that these are the years of carelessness and not those of serious thought. This is not an Islamic position. Indeed we find youth in the time of the Prophet (sallallaahu ‘alaihi wa sallam) performing heroic deeds and very serious in their practice and dedication. Examples such as Ali Ibn Abi Taalib, Ibn Abbaas, Anas Ibn Malik, Usaamah Ibn Zaid, Mus’ab Ibn ‘Umayr, Ammaar Ibn Yaasir and others (radiallahu ‘anhum ajma’een) will be forever remembered for their sacrifices and willingness to give their lives in the cause of Islam at tender ages.

This is a character assessment checklist aimed at the youth to assist them in making their own assessment of themselves and decide if changes in their character are in order. Parents too can use it as a gauge. In fact, what is listed are sins certainly not limited to youth. Each point is an interrelated sin that either weakens eemaan or comes from weak eemaan. Some stem from others while others lead to something worse. Possessing any of them makes change necessary because to continue doing them may lead to worse sin, hypocrisy and disbelief. It may not seem like it, but even you, as young as you are, could face death at any moment. Do you want to meet Allah in a sorry moral condition?

One step toward correction is recognising one’s faults and setting out to do the opposite. A second step is honestly seeking Allah’s help and asking His forgiveness. There have been people who commit terrible sins and Allah has guided and forgiven them after true repentance and struggle with themselves. Certainly you can too. Look at yourself and ask yourself if you do any of the following:

Lie to and disobey parentsRaise your voice to or abuse parents or other family membersDisregard the advice of parentsDisrespect adultsBreak your promisesInsult the opposite sexFreely mix with the opposite sex by flirting or looking lustfully at themBackbite and gossipLook at bad movies and listen to music, especially sexually explicit types or that have a lot of profanityUse profanityLie or stealDevise ways to avoid anything IslamicSpend your money on what is haraamThink mostly of yourself and little of othersDo as little as you can to assist in the homePut minimum effort into schoolworkImitate, respect or love the ways and manners of kuffaarAct hard with Muslims and easy with kuffaarSmoke or do drugsMostly keep company with weak and sinful Muslims or kuffaarWaste a lot of time and never study the deenFind it easy to do wrong and difficult to do rightHate to be reminded of religious dutiesFeel little or no sense of shame or modestyHate proper hijaabDo not enjoy listening to the Qur’anOnly try to learn Arabic or how to recite the Qur’an if pressuredDon’t go to the masjid or consistently go late to prayer (for males) when there is no obstacle to doing so regularly and on timeDislike going to prayers or concentrate little in them and hurry to get them over withRarely give charity or giftsAvoid the company of striving MuslimsRarely or never make extra (sunnah) prayersRead anything else other than the Qur’an or authentic hadith that is of little or no value or haramRead the Qur’an or the hadith only if forced toAttend circles of Islamic knowledge only if forced and pay little attention when you do Never give thanks, seek forgiveness from Allah nor seek refuge from wrongdoing

Don’t use the faulty logic that ‘I am young so I want to enjoy as much as I can before I get old and I will ask forgiveness before I die’! Such people almost never change on their own. They usually get worse because sins become a part of their character that they can no more rid themselves of than they could the noses on their faces. Being good or right according to Islam has absolutely no importance in their lives.

You are a Muslim and you must not take a defeated attitude or think that your sins affect you only. When the Muslims complain of their position or situation it is because there are too many of them who take the attitude that Islam is not the number one concern in their lives and it is not important to follow or that it’s for ‘old’ people. Are you a part of the problem or part of the solution? Practising Islam to the fullest is a cause for great inner joy, satisfaction and happiness and totally eliminates the desire or need for any other means to feel good, better or best.May Allah help you to be the kind of youth that all Muslims can be proud of and not ashamed of or whom they disdain. We pray that you are a boon and not a burden to Islam and the Muslims. This can only occur if you are first a youth that Allah ta’aala is pleased with.Avoid HypocrisyStrengthen Your FaithDepend On AllahMake Your Islam Real!

From the supplications of the Prophet(sallallaahu ‘alaihi wa sallam)Whenever we see a person who has been afflicted with anything we should say:“Al-hamdu lillah-i-llathee ‘aafaani mimmab-talaahu bihi wa fadhalanee ‘alaa katheerin mimman khalaqa tafdheela.”which means“All praise is due to Allah Who has pardoned me of that which He has afflicted him with, and made me much better than many of those He has created.”(*This supplication should not be heard by the afflicted person.) Source

JAKARTA (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton held up Indonesia on Wednesday as proof that modernity and Islam can coexist as she visited the country where U.S. President Barack Obama spent four years as a boy.

Clinton's 24-hour stay in the world's most populous Muslim nation underlined Obama's desire to forge a better relationship with the Islamic world, where his predecessor George W. Bush's policies were deeply unpopular, notably the invasion of Iraq.

Clinton, on her first trip as secretary of state, said she wanted to deepen cooperation between the two countries on counterterrorism, climate change and security.

"As I travel around the world over the next years, I will be saying to people: if you want to know whether Islam, democracy, modernity and women's rights can co-exist, go to Indonesia," she said at a dinner with civil society activists.

Clinton basked in Obama's popularity in Indonesia at every stop during her day, which included talks with the Indonesian foreign minister and a visit to the Jakarta headquarters of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

Obama spent four years in Indonesia after his American mother, Ann Dunham, married Indonesian Lolo Soetoro following the end of her marriage to Obama's Kenyan father.

Foreign Minister Hassan Wirajuda said Indonesia shared the United States' "joy" at Obama's election and he wanted Clinton to go back and tell the U.S. president "we cannot wait too long" for a visit.

Playing on Obama's Indonesian ties, about 50 schoolchildren from the U.S. president's old school waved U.S. and Indonesian flags and sang folk songs to Clinton on the tarmac after she landed at an airport in the suburbs of Jakarta.

"DIPLOMATIC ABSENTEEISM"

Although Clinton got a generally warm welcome, about 100 Muslim students, some chanting "Allahu Akbar" (God is greatest), held a protest rally at Jakarta's presidential palace, some throwing shoes at a picture of Clinton.

While most Indonesian Muslims are moderate, the country has a radical fringe and has suffered from sporadic bombings in recent years. More than 200 people, many of them foreigners, were killed when Islamist militants bombed tourist areas of the island of Bali in 2002.

Police have deployed 2,800 officers in the capital for Clinton's visit, part of a week-long trip that began in Tokyo and will include stops in Seoul and Beijing.

On Thursday Clinton will meet Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who seeking is a second term this year and is keen to showcase Indonesia's stability since its transformation from an autocracy under former President Suharto -- who was forced to resign in 1998 -- to a vibrant democracy.

At ASEAN, which critics often dismiss as a toothless talk shop, Clinton said Washington would study whether to join its Treaty of Amity and Cooperation, a step short of membership but that could signal stronger U.S. ties with Southeast Asia.

"Your visit shows the seriousness of the United States to end its diplomatic absenteeism in the region," ASEAN Secretary-General Surin Pitsuan said after welcoming Clinton to the group's headquarters. Source

New Delhi (IANS): Muslim clerics have termed as "un-Islamic" and "unacceptable" conversion to Islam to escape legal complications of a second marriage, citing the example of Chander Mohan alias Chand Mohammed and Anuradha Bali alias Fiza whose apparent wedding of convenience is now showing signs of strain.

"Adopting Islam with an intention for second marriage is not only un-Islamic but against reason as well," renowned Muslim scholar Maulana Wahiduddin Khan told IANS.

The debate about religious conversion was triggered after then Haryana deputy chief minister Chander Mohan announced his second marriage to former law officer Anuradha Bali and their conversion to Islam Dec 17 last year. Chander Mohan is the father of three teenagers from his first marriage.

The much-hyped love affair soured sooner than expected after the rechristened couple of Chand Mohammad and Fiza fell apart. Chand suddenly left Fiza's home in Punjab's Mohali town Jan 28 and has been elusive since then.

Quoting from a hadith, Prophet Mohammed's saying, Khan said such conversion is "unacceptable" and "childish".

The author of around 200 books and a known authority on interpretation of the holy Quran said that embracing Islam "in its true spirit should be for the sake of truth".

"Conversion should not be for the sake of marriage or any personal motive. The motive of conversion should be truth... The realisation of the truth in a religion can be achieved only after in-depth study and discussions about the religion," Khan said.

To prevent such conversions, Khan laid emphasis on educating people about the sanctity of the institution of marriage and "not to take it as fun".

"It is not possible to check such conversions. We are living in a society which provides freedom on such aspects to every one. The only thing we can do is to educate people about the seriousness and sanctity of marriage. Marriage is not a fun thing and we need to make people understand this," Khan said.

A senior cleric of Darul Uloom, a highly revered seminary in Deoband town of Uttar Pradesh, also denounced the conversions with the objective of marrying again.

"Adopting Islam with the intention to have a second wife is un-Islamic, incorrect and not justifiable," said Qari Usman, an expert on hadith.

About the Chand-Fiza marriage and conversion, Usman said: "Although he (Chand) became a Muslim, the whole chain of events has come out in a way that has sent a wrong message about the religion in society. People should not use religion for such motives."

Usman has also been pro-vice chancellor of the seminary that attracts thousands of students from India and other countries.

Darul Ifta, the fatwa department of the Darul Uloom, has also slammed Chander Mohan, saying his conversion was a "lowly act".

Mufti Muqarram Ahmad, a leading cleric in Delhi, says accepting Islam should be in consonance with belief in the tenets of Islam and "not for using it for personal hidden motives".

"One cannot know the real intention of a person but using Islam for purposes like to have a second wife is not in the spirit of Islam," Ahmad said.Source

Nazim Mangera felt tears welling in his eyes as he said the final prayers over the body of Aasiya Z. Hassan around sunrise Tuesday morning.

Mangera wasn’t upset just by the loss of this vivacious, intelligent 37-year-old woman or by the vicious way that she was killed when she was beheaded Thursday.

He also was upset about suggestions that the Islamic religion may have had something to do with her death, that this may have been an “honor killing” tied to Muslim tradition or culture. Orchard Park police have charged her estranged husband, Muzzammil Hassan, 44, with her killing.

“We’re all shocked. We’re all grieving,” said Mangera, imam of the Islamic Society of the Niagara Frontier. “To compound that, we have to face the difficulty of the religion of Islam being blamed for [the killer’s] personal actions. It was an individual person who did this act, for whatever reason. We don’t find any justification in the Islamic religion for any such violence.”

Mangera was upset about suggestions that Muslim attitudes, especially toward women, have been blamed for the Hassan killing.

And he disputed the notion made by others that any connection between Islam and “honor killing” comes from an extreme right-wing Islamic faction that uses the Quran for its own purposes.

“The main concern of the Muslim community is that whenever a Muslim does something wrong, Islam goes on trial,” Mangera added.

But what about the fact that Aasiya Hassan was beheaded, an act considered part of some Eastern cultures and traditions?

“Beheading has more to do with culture and country of origin [than religion],” Mangera stated. “It has nothing to do with Islam. We abhor domestic violence, and we categorically denounce it in all forms.”

Authorities are investigating the possibility that the beheading could have been an honor killing.

“The people that I’ve talked to have said killing your wife or beheading anyone is not condoned in the Islamic faith,” Orchard Park Police Chief Andrew Benz said Tuesday. “I haven’t found anyone to say it’s all right to do that under any circumstances. But it’s something we have to investigate.”

Meanwhile, Aasiya Hassan’s sister, Asma Firfirey, who lives in South Africa, told a local newspaper there that she believes she was on the telephone with her sister when she was killed.

Firfirey, 42, told Die Burger in Cape Town that she and her husband were on the phone with Aasiya Hassan on Thursday when they allegedly heard her tell her husband to calm down and they could talk the following day about the divorce, according to the report.

Then, the Firfireys allegedly heard Aasiya Hassan make sounds that suggested she was struggling to breathe. They found out the next day she had been killed.

“I can only imagine how scared and emotional she must have been before she died,“ Asma Firfirey told the newspaper.

Erie County District Attorney Frank A. Sedita III agreed that authorities are investigating the possibility of an honor killing, because he said that would be a relevant issue in determining the killer’s motive.

“Whether it’s an honor killing does not change the fact that this is a case of extreme violence,” Sedita said.

Muzzammil Hassan has been charged with second-degree murder, leading to many Internet and e-mail complaints about his not being charged with first-degree murder.

“It’s obviously difficult to envision a more vicious crime than this,” Sedita said. “But the sheer brutality of the crime, under New York State law, does not elevate murder second to murder first.”

First-degree murder, punishable by a sentence of up to life imprisonment without parole, may be charged only in an intentional killing accompanied by one of 13 special circumstances, according to the law.

Those special circumstances include the killings of a judge, police officer, corrections officer, witness, or a contract killing, terrorist act, serial killing or torture killing.

Sedita pointed out that New York State law does not recognize a beheading — no matter how vicious that is — as one of those 13 specific circumstances.

How about this being a torture killing?

“We would have to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant took great enjoyment in killing his victim,” Sedita said.

Sedita cited one fairly recent case, the January 2001 killing of an 18-year-old on North Pearl Street, that could be considered a torture killing. In that case, authorities had evidence that at least one of the suspects took great relish in the killing.

“Certainly, we will investigate to see if there are sufficient acts to prove that,” the district attorney said of this case. Source

Arabic: a language, a beingBased on a talk given by Sheikh Muhammad Safwat Noorudin1 - If you don’t know how to recite the Qur’an – start now. Use your local mosque, imam, any brother who can help, and ask yourself what arrangements will I make in order to learn how to recite the Book of Allah.2 - If you can read the Qur’an – what about understanding it? Try to learn the language. It has always struck me how we are all (including myself) quite happy to do ‘hijrah’ from our home towns to go to other cities (in the same country or overseas) in order to study in universities – to study non Islamic subjects. But what have we done in order to learn the language that Allah chose to reveal the Final Message? To this day I remember how students from overseas struggle and fight to learn English so they can then study engineering, medicine law etc... Have we even started to fight or struggle to learn the Arabic language?

3 - If you have started studying Arabic and are finding it a daunting task – PERSEVERE! The road is long, but I am sure rewarding in this life and the hereafter inshaa Allah. May this transcribed talk revamp your learning spirit, and urge us to learn the language of the Qur’an.4 - Understand what has happened on a deeper historical perspective, how a language for any society is important, it’s preservation and heritage. One of the biggest problems we face as Muslims, is ignorance about the true teachings of Islam, especially what Allah was has written in His Book. The effects are apparent all over the Muslim world, from open shirk to a total absence of a Muslim personality. I hope this article reminds us that there is a conflict out there between good and evil. Which direction are we going.... If we don’t understand the instructions.. not being able to understand the book of Allah is exactly what the enemy wants.Open the ears of your heart and may this read be of benefit, and not a proof against you.To Proceed:

The Ability To Communicate: A Blessing From AllahI seek refuge in Allah from the accursed Shaytaan, and praise Allah Almighty and send salaam upon the Messenger Muhammad, upon his wives, his family, his companions and all those whose follow his example until the Day of Judgment. I wish to greet you with the greeting of ‘peace’, by saying ‘As-salaamu ‘alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakaatuhu. Secondly, it is from the Sunnah of the Prophet Muhammad (sallallaahu ‘alaihi wa sallam) that he has taught us, when you love a people or a person that you declare your love to them, therefore I state that I love you all for the sake of Allah subhaanahu wa ta’aala. Thirdly, I wish to ask Allah Almighty on my behalf and yours to make our words beneficial in our scales on the Yaum Al-Qiyaamah, so that we may benefit and be from the people of al-Jannah. Allaahumma ameen.

It is apparent to all of us that we know that people must communicate with one another in different forms or in different ways. The easiest way that Allah has given mankind to communicate is through the spoken words through the tongue. Allah made (language/the tongue) one of his signs (aayaat) to mankind, the spoken word and the differing of tongues (languages). There are other languages and other ways to communicate with one another, for example, the sheikh showed us some movements in sign language that anyone from any culture from any place would understand: Come! Go! Counting, one, two, three, such that without speaking a person would understand what you were meaning even if he has a different language, a different tongue.

Yet Allah Almighty, deemed that the spoken word is the easiest and most useful. In His creation of mankind He deemed that the voice box, the place where the language comes out, the sound comes out, can produce thousands upon thousands of sounds that no one can count or calculate. No one can know home many different combinations a person can use together in forming words and language (speaking), except Allah subhaanahu wa ta’aala. Whether the language that is spoken is Arabic or another, it makes no difference as to the type of language. Yet we see that Allah subhaanahu wa ta’aala, out of all the languages and out of all the ways of communication, chose Arabic as the language of the Final Message, as a way of honouring it. When Allah sent the Qur’an in the Arabic language it gave honour to the language by itself, it also gave honour to the Arabic speaking people, but then when Arabic became the language of the Qur’an, Arabic ceased to be the language of the Arabs and began to be the language of the Muslims.

Destructive Forms Of CommunicationI wish to remind you that the disbelieving people in the West and different places, have taught mankind to also use different ‘languages’ other than the spoken tongue, and the ‘language’ that they have preferred now is the ‘language’ of lust and desire. You will see, that the woman is taught to shed her clothing, and to practise nakedness in varying forms and levels, and it becomes a language that we call ‘body-language’. Wealth becomes another language, lusts and the desires of people are focused on by the disbelivers by way of distracting them from the words of Allah and the Prophet Muhammad (sallallaahu ‘alaihi wa sallam).

And these are ‘languages,’ not just the spoken words, but all of these languages are what your children are living in today, these are the languages that your children are being bombarded with, and raised with on a daily and hourly basis. This then causes some to be neglectful of their Islamic duties, and others to leave Islam. Many of the children are not immunised, have not been given that inoculation, to protect them from these different evil forms of desires and lusts, and the inoculation, and the way to immunise yourself is through the Qur’an and the Sunnah.

The Danger of Neglecting Arabic And The Importance of Its PreservationHow will you learn and understand, and derive the meaning of the Qur’an and the Sunnah without the Arabic language? So therefore when we are lacking in understanding the Arabic this causes us to fall into misguidance and to be misled. Therefore the disbelievers win the battle, it is as if they have a bet with you, a race, they will win by eliminating the true Muslim characteristics in the lineages/generations that you will leave behind. You will not be able to pass on these Muslim manners, have a Muslim lineage, have Muslim grandchildren or great grand children unless you inoculate them with the Arabic language.

So therefore how will you protect yourself? It is to fortify your home with the struggle of learning the Arabic language, in all of its ways and degrees. I do not mean for you to understand that I am telling you to speak Arabic and learn Arabic the way Egyptians speak it, in their dialect, or the way Syrians speak in their dialect, or the way the Kuwaiti speaks in his dialect, or the way the Sudanese speaks in his dialect, but to speak the proper Arabic that is found in the Qur’an. This is a way of using it to understand, so that when you learn, you will have a better relationship with the Qur’an and the Sunnah of Muhammad (sallallaahu ‘alaihi wa sallam).

Some may believe that by acquiring different languages or a certain language it will increase your chances of making more money or getting more wealth, or having more opportunities to make money. This in fact is contrary to what Allah Almighty has dictated to us in the Qur’an, where Allah says, “I have neither created Jinn and Mankind except to worship Me, I require no sustenance from them” [Adh-Dhaariyaat].

Allah is the one who provides for you therefore the criteria that you must meet is to be in worship of Allah subhaanahu wa ta’aala. So learning one language or another should not have the criteria, or base, to have more wealth or more worldly opportunities. For Allah Almighty says, “And in the heavens (with Allah) is your sustenance”. Thus, it has already been decided by Allah Almighty the Most High. It can not be increased by something you do, and it can not be decreased by something you don’t do, it has been decided by Allah, yet you live your life according to what Allah Almighty has ordered for you.

The Muslim must then know that ‘rizq’ (sustenance) is from Allah, and that sustenance will not change. But you must know, what is required from you – ‘ibaadah – worship. This is why you have been created in all of the different shades, examples etc... How will you learn how to perform ‘ibaadah? Obviously it is from the Qur’an and the Sunnah. How will you learn the Qur’an and the Sunnah? It will come through learning the Arabic language, so that you may reach the true meaning of the Qur’an and the true intended meaning of the Sunnah of Muhammad (sallallaahu ‘alaihi wa sallam).

Some of the famous Sahaabah when they entered Islam, had little or no Arabic language with them. For example, Salman al Farsee, Salman who was a Persian, not an Arab. Also there was Bilal Al-Habashee. Bilal was from Ethiopia, he was not an Arab. The Arabic language when it spread, it spread according to the spread of Islam, whenever a new country became Muslim, new territory was occupied by the Muslims, the people automatically began to learn the Arabic language. This is why we see that Imaam Al-Bukhari, when he wrote the Saheeh, and when he wrote his history, he did not write it in his native first language. He wrote it in the Arabic language.

It is important to note that the Arabic language has not been preserved in its original form by the Arabs, but it has been preserved in dictionaries by non-Arabs. Al-Fayrozabadi was one of the collectors of the Arabic language in a dictionary. He was not an Arab. You will see, when you look into these dictionaries of the scholars of the past they would write at the end or in the introduction saying, ‘ we have collected this dictionary as a way of helping in the preservation of the language of the Qur’an, or in the preservation of the language of the Sunnah of Muhammad (sallallaahu ‘alaihi wa sallam)’.

The Condition Of MuslimsI know in this (non-Muslim) country and others there are Arabic parents, the father and the mother are Arabs, they speak Arabic, and they were raised in Arabic countries. Now, their children speak little or no Arabic. This is a sad fact that we are all aware of. Why don’t we notice that the Imams of the past, the scholars and the people of the past, when they travelled to a country for trade it was not for the wealth, but it was for the spread of the religion.

The wealth was a secondary issue, but first it was for the spread of Islam. Now the scales have become twisted and changed, people have forgotten the word of Allah in the Qur’an. Allah is the one who provides all sustenance, and he is the one full of strength, the formidable. It is Allah who provides all, and yet Allah describes to us people in the Qur’an who come only for the wealth, for other than Islamic reasons, Allah describes them in the Qur’an to us: They eat as if cattle eat, and their final abode shall be the fire. Because they have given up that what is blessed for that which is cheap.

Islamic generations in the past, for many years, were run by rulers who spoke only Arabic. This was the way of persevering the (language) and way of the Islamic Ummah, until the Ottoman Empire (Turkish Empire), where the Khilaafa became a person who no longer wished to speak Arabic, but spoke his own language, the Turkish language. This caused dissension and a lack of unity and eroded the strength of the Ummah. Look at present day Turkey, it has come to the point where they have changed their script of language. Many generations used to write the script in Arabic form, their language was written in Arabic. Now it has been changed to Roman script. Leaving off the Arabic lineage, heritage and tradition. As a sign that they have left behind all that it was before.

Now we see when we look at Turkey and the Islamic situation of the Muslims there that if a Muslim woman was to partially cover her hair it would be a calamity in the society, something unacceptable. This is the extent of how much of the Islamic attitude has been taken away from these people. The first step was the detraction of the Arabic language.Let us a look at countries that did not have the Arabic language in the first place. Countries in the which the spoken language was never Arabic, yet the Muslim generations for many years lived in this land, but yet you will find them following only one madh-hab. They will make Taqleed (blind following) of this one way. They would never accept anything else, even to discuss a single secondary issue, like where to place the hands, and something like this, in salaat, it would be a sign of you waging war against them.

Why? Because they did not have the Arabic language, therefore could not teach themselves to differentiate between different things, so they became blind to one way. It is as if you have entered a masjid, and you have to physically turn them to show them which way the Qibla is. This is how blinded they have become into following a specific person. Therefore you see they are the hardest of people to change even a secondary issue in their Madh-hab.

Look at those who have deviated in their beliefs, and you will notice, for example the first hadith narrated by Imam Muslim, in As-Saheeh, the hadith narrated from Yahya ibn Ya’mar: ...the first man who discussed Qadr (Divine Decree) in Basrah was Ma’bad al-Juhani. Humayd ibn AbdurRahman al-Himyari and I set out for Pilgrimage or for Umrah and said: Should it so happen that we come into contact with one of the Companions of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) we shall ask him about what is talked about Taqdeer (Divine Decree). Accidentally we came across Abdullah ibn Umar ibn al-Khattab, while he was entering the mosque. My companion and I surrounded him. One of us (stood) on his right and the other stood on his left. I expected that my companion would authorise me to speak. I therefore said: Abu AbdurRahman!

There have appeared some people in our land who recite the Holy Qur’an and pursue knowledge. And then after talking about their affairs, added: They (such people) claim that there is no such thing as Divine Decree and events are not predestined. He (Abdullah ibn Umar) said: When you happen to meet such people tell them that I have nothing to do with them and they have nothing to do with me. And verily they are in no way responsible for my (belief). Abdullah ibn Umar swore by Him (the Lord) (and said): If any one of them (who does not believe in the Divine Decree) had with him gold equal to the bulk of (the mountain) Uhud and then, it (in the way of Allah), Allah would not accept it unless he affirmed his faith in Divine Decree...

We can see that they understood it necessary to return to Makkah and ask one of the Sahaaba who may be living there what he thinks of this issue of people denying there is no Qadar (divine decree/predestination), saying that there is no Qadar. So he says, I looked for one of the Sahaba and he found Abdullah ibn Omar and he asked him the question, about such and such and what do you say about the person who denies Qadar ? I am narrating this to you is so that you know that the place that this tabi’ee went to seek the truth was back to the land of the Qur’an. The bid’ah (innovation) began in a land outside the land of the Arabs, outside the land of the people who spoke the language.

Bid’ah, (the introduction of innovation ) is done in three ways. You will find bid’ah associated in the following three ways: because of a lack of the Arabic language, a lack or a long time distance from the Prophet’s (sallallaahu ‘alaihi wa sallam) time, and third it is found far away from the land of the Muslims. This is where you will see the bidah beginning and the innovation spreading from there. Look at the ‘Shee’ah’.

Where did it begin and where is it living today (i.e. predominant)? In the land of the Persians, not in the land of the people who speak, and can read and understand Arabic in its original form. Look at the Qadianis, and the Bahais, although they are not believers, this deviance began in a land outside the land of the people who spoke the language of the Qur’an, the Arabic language. The people who did not learn the Arabic language were the most susceptible to being influenced by bid’ah, deviance and innovation. (The shaykh here is not precluding the fact that much deviation and disobedience began and exists in the lands of native Arabic speakers – wallaahu ‘alam) So what is the solution?

Observations and HopesFirst I wish to share with you, what my own eyes have seen as I have travelled throughout this country of yours. In every city and every place, you will always notice and be able to distinguish the Jewish children from other children, just by looking at them, without speaking to them, without hearing them, just by seeing them. One asks himself why? To him comes back only one reason.

It is because behind this child is a mother, who is driven by a father to raise this child, to live a Jewish life in clothing, appearance, mannerisms, attitude, food, everything, to raise the child in a Jewish way, in the life that they have adopted. All of this effort, and they are in misguidance. Yet we who have the guidance, the Qur’an and the Sunnah, have many of the children and the lineages lost in the streets, have forgotten the Tawheed!

Do not think that it is something unattainable, that your children cannot be raised and have an identity of their own, and be raised upon the values and the systems of Al-Islam. For if these people in disbelief accomplish it, what about the Muslims who have the guidance of Allah and the Sunnah of his Messenger (sallallaahu ‘alaihi wa sallam)? Two things must come together as a solution for our children and our lineage (future generations): Al-Usra wal Masjid – the family – home life and the Masjid - the life in the Masjid. These two things must come and unify in raising the child. Let our tongues in these two places be the tongue of the Qur’an, even if it is in a limited fashion.

Let us spend from our wealth and our efforts in our ability to learn that which we do not know, to have taught to us that which we do not know, so that our children and us, can begin to converse and understand and develop some Arabic characteristics in our language and in our abilities. Do not say to your child, or think to yourself, ‘He doesn’t know it now but I will teach him later’ for this is something that will not happen. The time to ask is now, and therefore the place of learning must be in the home, with the mother, with the father, and in the masjid. This is something you must struggle and strive for.

Let the father spend as much of his time in the house, with his children, with his wife as possible. Let the mother facilitate this by also spending much time in the home. Do you know that Imam as-Shafi’ee’s (may Allah be please with him) father passed away and orphaned him while he was a young child? When he reached the age of ten years old, having known no father, his mother pushed him and told him ‘go and learn’ go and seek knowledge. At the tender age of ten years old. What did he go and learn? He went to learn the Arabic language, the Qur’an, and the Sunnah of the Prophet Muhammad (sallallaahu ‘alaihi wa sallam). Do this and it will become apparent to you, that this is the solution for what we are facing today and what will be facing in the future. Source

MUSLIMS in America have played important roles in shaping every sector of the society, be it finance, business, arts, entertainment or sports, US House of Representatives member Keith Ellison has said.The first Muslim to be elected to the US Congress after winning the fifth Congressional District in Minnesota, he was giving a lecture at Qatar University’s College of Sharia and Islamic Studies yesterday.“Following 9/11, there has been an emergence of Muslim civil rights organisations, Ellison said, while observing “they are involved in the political process and confront civil rights challenges as they occur”.“The political picture is bright, not perfect, but we are ready to expand the dialogue and work to resolving the miscomprehensions that exist in our society and between the US and the Islamic world,” he stated.Ellison asserted that the US and the Muslim world have many things in common and this heralds a good future for collaboration and dialogue.He pointed to US President Barack Obama’s stated pledge to work alongside the Muslim world in mutual respect.“This is the first time a US president has reached out in this way”, he said, citing further decisions by President Obama such as to close Guantanamo Bay, end the war in Iraq, and stop the use of torture which he said resonated positively in the Muslim world.“President Obama’s granting his first international interview to Al-Arabiya was a significant move which showed his commitment to his pledge. He was talking straight to Muslims all over the world,” he said. Ellison also noted that his election to Congress in 2006 and later Barack Obama’s election as president was a credit to the American people as tolerant and accepting of people from diverse cultures and religions. Earlier, while welcoming Ellison, College of Sharia and Islamic Studies dean Dr Aisha al-Mannai said that the institution was in step with the people of Qatar in their enthusiasm to bring people of all cultures and religions together. “Ellison wanted to meet with us so that we can share our views and discuss issues that connect us to each other”, she said while adding, “we are especially interested in expanding the dialogue on issues relating to the US and the Islamic world.”Source

NEW YORK (CNN) -- The founder of an upstate New York TV station aimed at countering Muslim stereotypes has been arrested on suspicion of killing his wife, who was beheaded, authorities said.

Muzzammil Hassan has been charged with murder in the death of his wife, Aasiya Hassan.

Muzzammil Hassan was charged with second-degree murder after police found the decapitated body of his wife, Aasiya Hassan, at the Bridges TV station in the Buffalo suburb of Orchard Park, said Andrew Benz, Orchard Park's police chief.

Hassan was arrested Thursday.

His wife filed for divorce February 6, and police had responded to several domestic violence calls at the couple's home, Benz said.

On Monday, Benz told CNN that Hassan went directly to the police station after his wife's death Thursday and confessed to killing her. However, Benz on Tuesday denied that he'd said Hassan confessed.

Hassan told Orchard Park police his wife was dead, led officers to her body and was arrested Thursday, Erie County District Attorney Frank Sedita III told CNN on Tuesday. Hassan is scheduled to appear in court Wednesday.

Attempts to reach an attorney for Hassan were unsuccessful Monday, and his family didn't return calls from CNN.

He had two children, 4 and 6, with his wife. He had two other children, 17 and 18, from his previous marriage.

He launched Bridges TV, billed as the first English-language cable channel targeting Muslims inside the United States, in 2004. At the time, Hassan said he hoped the network would balance negative portrayals of Muslims following the attacks of September 11, 2001.

The station's staff is "deeply shocked and saddened by the murder of Aasiya Hassan and the subsequent arrest of Muzzammil Hassan," a statement from Bridges TV said.

"Our deepest condolences and prayers go out to the families of the victim," the statement said.Source